ABA conference looks at regulatory world under Trump

The 2017 American Bankers Association Regulatory Compliance Convention centered around the possible effects of the new Trump administration on the current regulatory environment. The conference provided a host of sessions on all areas of banking compliance, as usual, but in the context of the changes that might be expected as the administration moves forward.

Regulatory panel. Surprisingly, the standard town halls that attendees had come to expect, featuring officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Reserve Board, Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, were missing this year. The town halls would allow attendees to hear the regulators’ plans for upcoming rules and ask questions. This year, however, the conference featured a panel discussion with regulators speaking on regulatory reform under the Trump administration and on their agencies’ specific focus in 2017.

Christopher D’Angelo, Associate Director of Supervision, Enforcement & Fair Lending, represented the CFPB on the panel. He indicated that the CFPB is focusing on the ways the bureau evaluates institutions’ compliance management systems with plans to fold more off-site work into the examinations. Now that the CFPB’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act supervisory work is completed, the bureau will turn to assessing fair lending risk.

D’Angelo also addressed the criticism of the increase of CFPB enforcement actions. Tracking enforcement actions, the uptick, despite the "chatter" from critics, shows activity is on pace to be similar to 2015 and 2016.